Found You
by A. Sylvestris
Summary: Just when I think I may have found you again, you slip away from my hands, like the water in the lake we used to play in. But I don't want to lose you again this time. Our everyday life cliché love story.
1. Chapter 1

I first met Kaito Kuroba when I was four.

I was obsessed with the Mission Impossible movie and Ethan Hunt; while waiting for my mom to finish her appointment with the herbalist, I was re-watching the movie _again_ on my mom's phone, probably for the twentieth time.

A boy, older than me (two years? three years maybe?) came and sat down besides me with his father (I assumed so, they looked pretty similar except for the mustache on the man's face). They were both Japanese, like me; I could hear them through the background music of Mission Impossible pumping out my headphones.

The boy seemed to be angry with his father. The father didn't seem to care though, as he just patted the boy's head and smiled. The woman at the counter called for the dad- "Mr. Kuroba! Go to the second room!"- and the boy slumped down on the couch and covered his face with his hands.

Feeling like I wasn't going to be able to concentrate on the movie anyways, I pulled my headphones off and decided to talk to the guy.

"...Kuro..ba-san…?" I called, scooting closer to the guy. I figured his last name was probably Kuroba, or something along the lines, according to the counter woman, anyways.

The boy jumped up and stared at me. "Do you know me?" he demanded.

He was taller, bigger, stronger than me. I felt scared. "N, no, I just thought…"

Seeing me hang my head down, he sat down next to me. "if you're going to cry, don't do it here," he grumbled.

"I'm not going to cry! I'm not that weak!" I yelled, pouting. Thinking back, I bet I would have looked really funny to him.

Which is probably why he laughed and patted my head. "Oh, I'm sorry. What's your name?" he asked.

"Shinichi," I sniffed. "Shinichi Kudo. Like… like that famous detective, Shinichi!"

"Yeah, I don't know him," the guy waved me off. "I'm Kaito Kuroba, by the way."

"Did you fight with your dad?" I asked, then immediately clasped my hands over my mouth. _It's rude to ask such things, Shin-chan!_ I could hear my mom shouting in my head.

Kaito probably saw me struggling. "No, no, it's fine. I don't really care," he said, and grinned. "I told my dad I wanted to be a magician, just like him, and he told me I should get a better job than that. I got mad at him for saying that his job is… well." He stopped here, and sighed. "My dad is someone I look up to a lot, you see? He's like my idol, my role model, someone I can't reach but will always work to reach. Oh, I don't even know why I'm angry," he said then, and sank into the couch.

I had no idea what he was saying. What did the words "idol" and "role model" mean? I could not understand him. I only managed to get out a small, helpless "Oh…"

Kaito chuckled, probably seeing my confused expression. "It would probably be hard for you to understand all of this," he said, laughing.

I stuck my bottom lip out. "No! I understand," I argued. "I understand Kuroba-san must have a lot in his mind."

"Yeah, but you don't know what that _lot_ is," he refuted. "So, what do _you_ want to be when you grow up?"

Because I had been obsessed with Ethan Hunt and the IMF at the time- "I want to work at the IMF!" was what I shouted.

Kaito looked legit confused. He probably did not understand why a person would want to work in a stupid monetary fund. I had meant the Impossible Missions Force. "O-kay, well, nice dream you have there."

Then my mother came out. "Shin-chan, let's go!" she called.

I quickly arranged my mother's phone and headphones and put them in my pocket. "See you later, Kuroba-san!" I yelled, and waved both hands at him.

"Kaito," Kaito corrected, and grinned, his teeth, with the exception of his left front tooth (I assume it had fallen out), showing as he did so.

I did not see his trademark grin for another two years.

I was getting bullied at school for looking like a girl by second-grade girls. Even though they were girls, they towered over me; I had been an exceptionally small kid for my age at the time.

"Look at his lips," one of the blonde girls said, pinching my bottom lip with his fingers. "And his eyes. Why are you prettier than us?" she demanded.

I did not know how to reply to that. All I felt was horror, humiliation and confusion.

Apparently the blonde wanted an answer. She moved on to pinch my cheeks. "Reply to me, boy!" she yelled. The frizzy-haired brunette next to her laughed.

"Don't be so hard on him, Suzanne," she said, laughing. "Or should I say her?"

They all broke out laughing. I broke out crying.

And then they suddenly broke out crying. I broke out laughing. A soccer ball had hit the blonde girl on the head, and she collapsed on the ground. Her other two friends were shocked and didn't know what to do, and they followed her down to the ground, crying at her to stay alive.

Which I found extremely stupid.

People don't die by getting hit on their heads by plastic balls filled in with air. I could tell from the sound that it had hit the girl's head that it wasn't a real soccer ball, but just a plastic balloon filled with air and colored to look like a soccer ball.

"Hey, little boy, can you pass me the ball?" somebody called. The voice seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn't find out why. I yelled back a yes and kicked the "ball" back. "Oh, hey, little boy, you're really good at kicking!" the guy that had asked for the ball had jogged to me to thank me. "What's your name?"

"Shinichi Kudo," I replied, smiling.

The boy looked at me weirdly. "Shinichi? Oh, like that… detective, right?"

"Yeah! How did you know?"

"Just… Well. I'm Kaito Kuroba." He waited for a moment. Maybe he was waiting for the name to ring a bell or something. I did not reply. I did not get why he had hesitated at the time. "Oh, well then, do you want to come and play soccer with us?"

And then Kaito, without waiting for my response, grabbed my hand and dragged me into the field full of fourth graders.

We won the game. I scored a goal, and Kaito scored two. The other team scored one. I was so proud of myself.

Kaito offered to walk me home that day. "We've… met before, you know…?" he asked tentatively as we walked towards our huge family estate in Baker Street.

"Yeah, actually, I've heard your voice before. Though I'm not exactly sure where," I replied, turning the soccer-balloon on my hands as I walked by Kaito.

He was tall, tan, good-looking and athletic; I was sure I had seen some of the fourth graders peering at him while he played soccer. I was the exact opposite of him; short, skinny, sickly-pale.

His indigo eyes sparkled every time he looked down at me and talked about something he liked, whether it was soccer, school or magic. He really seemed to be into magic.

When we arrived in front of my house, I found my mom waiting for me outside of the mansion, looking tired. "Shinichi!" she exclaimed when she saw me. "What took you so long?"

"I found a new friend, mom! This is Kuroba-san, he's in fourth grade, and he's also Japanese," I told mom, gesturing towards Kaito.

"On just your fifth day, a new friend! My Shin-chan is so lucky!" she said, rubbing her cheeks against mine. Her tiredness seemed to have worn away. "Thank you for bringing Shinichi home, Kuroba-kun," my mom told Kaito, smiling at him.

Kaito just laughed and said something along the lines of "No problem, Kudo-san." and then turned to me. "I'll see you tomorrow, Shinichi," Kaito said, smiling brightly and offering me his hand.

I took his hand, at least two-folds bigger than mine, and shook it, smiling back at him.

* * *

 _A/N: First story! Yay! *dances around* Imma take this slow and... well, at least as slow as it goes for me. I hope you liked it._


	2. Chapter 2

Because I had skipped a grade and didn't really have any friends in my grade (went from first grade to second grade after my first science class), I usually hung out with Kaito's friends. Sure, they were three years older than me (with the exception of Kaito-he was two years older than me as he had also skipped a grade), but we got along fine.

On my twelfth birthday, Kaito and his friends decided to throw a birthday party for me in Kaito's house. They were done with their mid-terms exams, it was May, the month of spring, the weather was wonderful-but we decided to have a sleepover party.

Because, well. I don't know. Apparently the girls in their high school had sleepover parties all the time, and they wanted to know how it felt like to have one.

At least that was what Eric had told me. Honestly, to me, it looked like they'd done it at least a few times before.

We stayed up until 3 in the morning marathoning every episode of _CSI_ and some of _The Simpsons_ while munching down brownies and cookie dough ice cream. Because Kaito loved the Simpsons. But then Blaise got bored of it and turned it off, only to switch it to the _Prince Caspian_ movie. I remember falling asleep in the middle of watching the Aslan talk to Caspian. I think.

The next morning, I woke up with a headache and a stomachache and Kaito using me as a pillow.

I yelled some unintelligible gibberish and pushed Kaito off me. Apparently somebody had had the heart to move me to the bed, for I had fallen asleep in the mattresses in front of the T.V.

Kaito woke up, screaming and swearing at the same time and holding on to his ankle; "My ankle! You son of a-" He had to stop because Ms. Kuroba had come running up the stairs to see what was wrong.

It was six in the morning and I felt really bad for her. And also for Kaito. Of course I felt bad for Kaito. "He twisted his ankle," Ms. Kuroba told me, "nothing to worry about. He'll get better in a few days."

"Weeks," Kaito reminded her.

"Yeah, well, _a_ week," Ms. Kuroba retorted. "That's a few days."

Kaito's face fell. "Which means no soccer for a few days. That sucks." He turned to me and made a face at me. "I actually think I might feel better if I made Shinichi one-legged." Ms. Kuroba hit him on the head. "I'm serious!" Kaito said.

"I'm _sorry_ ," I repeated for the millionth time, "but you were using me as a _pillow_. Anyone was to be freaked out."

"Kaito has bad sleeping habits," Blaise peeped in. "He sleepwalks, which is probably why he ended up using you as a pillow." Blaise's curly white-blonde hair was like a bird's nest; there had been a time when I had considered styling my hair like Blaise's. Maybe not.

"As a matter of fact, I saw him sleepwalking," Toshiya said, laughing. "He walked over to my bag around four and started tossing my clothes out of it, then walked over and did the same thing to Eric's bag until he found what he wanted. A can of Pringles."

I snickered and looked sideways to see Kaito's reaction. He was _blushing_ a shade of dark red. Kaito Kuroba was blushing. Something-a thought-of Kaito looking kinda cute had passed through my head, but I dismissed it quickly. "Stop it already," Kaito mumbled.

Toshiya apparently did not want to. "And after eating, like, what, three? Pringles, he walked over to you and carried you to the bed," he coughed at this point and smiled wickedly, " _bridal style_."

Laughter broke out around me, but I couldn't laugh. I closed my eyes and buried myself into the covers.

"And then he cuddled you like a teddy bear and used your stomach as a pillow," Toshiya said and shrugged. "I should have taken a video," he added as an afterthought.

"Should have posted it on Facebook," Eric said teasingly. "Hashtag: KaitoAndHisBride."

"I said, stop it already!" Kaito yelled. I peeked out of the covers to see Kaito covering his face with his hands. Ms. Kuroba was also covering her face beside him, but for different reasons. She looked like she was about to die from laughter.

.

.

.

"Spin da bottle truth or dare version!" Blaise exclaimed, holding up the empty plastic bottle of chia seed raspberry juice we had drank in the morning like the Olympic flame. "Because we're, obviously, all boys, so the original spin the bottle game would be… awkward," he added. "We'll start from me, go around the circle in the order of Shinichi, Toshiya, Eric, then end with Kaito."

Eric rolled his eyes. "You just _had_ to start with yourself."

Blaise ignored Eric and spun the bottle. It landed on me.

"Well, then, Shinichi," Blaise said, rubbing his hands, "Truth or dare?"

"Truth, obviously," I said without thinking. I had played this game in camp before-the dares the kids in my grade could come up with were sorta scary. I used to wonder how they could think of such dares; if they used their brains during math class as much as they did during these games, I was sure they'd get everything right. I picked up a brownie from the plate Ms. Kuroba had left for us while the others gathered about and discussed about what to ask me.

Finally, they came back and sat in the circle.

"Shinichi," Toshiya said, "can you describe your ideal type?"

 _Ideal type?_ I had never thought of anything like that. I decided to say anything that came to my mind. "Well, she would have to be Japanese," I said, "I mean, my parents wouldn't let me date anyone that's _not_ Japanese."

"We asked for _your_ ideal type," Kaito huffed.

" _Anyways_ ," I continued on, ignoring the messy-haired bastard, "indigo-eyed, maybe? I've always liked indigo eyes. She doesn't have to be pretty, but she would have to be kind," I said.

Eric seemed to think for a while after hearing my description. "Aren't Ran Mouri's eyes indigo? She's also Japanese," Eric said, poking Kaito on the shoulder.

Kaito brushed Eric's hand off and made a face at him. "Dude, Ran Mouri's eyes are purple, and she's _three years older_ than Shinichi."

I shrugged at Kaito's comment. "I prefer older over younger."

The other three _oooed_ at my remark. "We should introduce Mouri and Shinichi to each other. Wouldn't they make a cute couple?" Blaise said, elbowing me.

"I don't know who that is," I replied. I _had_ heard of her before, of course. Ran Mouri had been famous back in my elementary school days; she was often praised by the boys in my grade for looking like a goddess. But I had never seen her in person, nor talked to her.

"She's the stupidest, most obnoxious person I've ever met," Kaito remarked, glaring at Blaise.

"Everybody must seem stupid for you, genius boy," Blaise shot back. "' _I'm living in a tank of goldfish, somebody help me,'_ " Blaise said dramatically after messing his hair up like Kaito's. I couldn't help but laugh. "You're the same, genius boy number two. You think you live in a tank of goldfish too, right?" I made a _you don't say_ face at him.

"He's probably just _jealous_ ," Toshiya said teasingly, "because we're trying to get Ran Mouri and his _bride_ together." I felt my face flush while Kaito facepalmed himself. "To think about it, aren't Kaito's eyes also indigo? He's also Japanese, and older than Shinichi."

" _Stop right there or I'll smash this tray over your head_ ," Kaito threatened before I could open my mouth and say something to defend myself.

"Whoa, man, _calm down_ ," Toshiya said, fixing his glasses. "We should spin the bottle again," he suggested.

"Yeah! Yip yip! Go!" Blaise shouted as I moved closer to the bottle to spin it. It spun for quite a while before it seemed to land on Eric, but then landed on, well, Kaito.

"Dare," Kaito said, picking at his nose. "I absolutely _hate_ getting asked questions."

I reached over and slapped Kaito's hand away from his nose. "Quit it, it's dirty," I murmured.

Kaito raised his hands over his head. "Oops. Sorry," he said, then moved over to wipe his hands with a wet wipe.

" _We have come up with your dare, Kaito Kuroba!_ " Blaise shouted, raising his hand.

I turned around and scowled at Blaise. " _What?!_ I was supposed to be part of the conversation!" I protested.

Blaise stuck his tongue out at me. _How dare he._ "Well, too bad, you're late, Shinichi."

"And the dare is…," Eric made several percussion sounds with his mouth, "Kaito, kiss your bride!"

" _Oh my god_ ," I swore. " _You_."

"I ain't doin' this," Kaito said, rolling over on the mattress and pulling the covers over himself. I had a sudden urge to do the same thing.

"But if you're a man, you should," Toshiya said. "Come on, Kaito, _be a man._ "

" _You must be swift as a coursing river!_ " the other two guys chorused.

"Yeah! _Be a man!_ "

" _With all the force of a great typhoon!_ "

"Because 'being a man' has _everything_ to do with kissing your childhood friend," I retorted sarcastically.

"BE A MAN," Toshiya demanded.

"WITH ALL THE STRENGTH OF A RAGING FIRE!" The other two yelled back.

"Mysterious as the dark side of the MOON!" Toshiya's voice cracked at the last part. I covered my ears and shook my head. That guy was a worse singer than me, which was saying something.

"Will you _shut up for once_?" Kaito finally yelled, emerging from his blankets. "Fine, I'll do it!"

My eyes widened. _Seriously_ … _?_ I, for one, would rather endure five minutes of tickling over kissing your best friend. "Ka...Kaito…," I stammered, inching away from Kaito.

"I'm really ticklish." Was all Kaito said as he got closer to me. I had to push down the urge to kick him on the face and kept moving backwards. _Don't get close to me. Don't get close to me._ Then something hit my back. _Stupid wall_. "We don't have to actually kiss each other. Since they're all sitting on the left side of us, we can just tilt our faces in a certain angle without actually touching each other to make it seem like we're kissing," Kaito whispered into my ear. I nodded to show that I had understood. Kaito's face got closer to mine, and I closed my eyes tightly-

" _Shinichi-kun!_ Your mother is here!" Ms. Kuroba yelled, slamming the door open.

Then she saw us. She seemed shocked. I was shocked. Kaito was shocked. Mortified, I scurried away from Kaito and grabbed at my bag. "Bye, Ms. Kuroba! Bye!" I quickly waved my hand at the other three boys sitting on one corner of the room, dumbfounded, and ran out the house into my mom's car.

My mom later told me that I had forgotten to change into actual clothes and had gotten into the car topless with only my boxers on.

* * *

 _A/N: I think I may have relied a too much on dialogue after the first part^^; I also think too I may have used too many extra characters... ㅠㅠ_


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